Poll: Would You Rather? - Superpowers

[CitrusLover]

So, two superpowers, but you can only choose one.

Flying - You can fly at about 100mph, but can't slow down. Meaning you won't be able to see very well, you'll probably hit something on the way to your destination and landing will be a bit of a pain.

Teleportation - You can teleport, though not instantly and you have to of been to the place you are teleporting to. Also there is a 0.5% chance you will teleport inside a wall.


Let me know if you want more of these.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Teleportation, hands down. How long would it take though?

 

[Esotera]

Hm, if I did go for teleportation I'd have to fly all over the world to get reference points, then expand my reach...

I'd probably go with flying, as all that travelling would suck. I'm also an advocate of enjoying the journey rather than the destination, so there's that. Flying straight upwards & investing in a decent pair of goggles would probably solve all the issues apart from landing, which could be rather fatal at 100mph...

 

[bojackx]

So... die after hitting the floor at 100mph or take a 0.5% chance of merging with a wall?

I'd pick teleportation, and even then I'd only use it if I thought it was absolutely necessary.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Both of them sound like bad ideas, but Teleportation sounds more useful in emergencies.

 

[Heronblade]

Uh, inability to slow down means instant death on your first landing unless you arrange for a moving vehicle to catch you, and even then, your odds of escaping unscathed are quite low. Hell, the acceleration on take off would likely kill you.

I'll take teleportation and never use it save for emergencies. 1 in 200 odds of ending one's life as part of a building's decor is a bit too high to use the ability on anything resembling a regular basis.

 

[The Event]

So I can almost certainly turn myself into a red smear at the end of my first flight or face a 1 in 200 chance of dying from teleportation.

I'll take the teleportation and save it until I'm about to face a much higher risk of death if I don't use it.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I shall solve this with SCIENCE! So, assuming normal teleportation doesn't kill me, then since nowhere on earth is a vaccuum, it follows that I displace material from where I land (ie. the air). So landing inside a wall isn't necessarily fatal (to me) provided the wall is less than a couple of feet thick.

On the other hand, violently exploding a wall could cause a lot of collateral damage I'd rather not have on my conscience, and could cause me to die anyway (building collapse etc.) Also, if I landed in a much thicker wall/hill , it would probably be akin to being buried alive and I'd suffocate pretty quickly.

On the other hand, flying seems to be insta-death (unless you never stopped), so yeah teleportation it is.

 

[Risingblade]

hmm 100% chance of death or just .05% hmmm decisions decisions

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I would pick teleportation and just never teleport to places with walls. Problem solved.

 

[DaedricDuke]

Hm, if I did go for teleportation I'd have to fly all over the world to get reference points, then expand my reach...

I'd probably go with flying, as all that travelling would suck. I'm also an advocate of enjoying the journey rather than the destination, so there's that. Flying straight upwards & investing in a decent pair of goggles would probably solve all the issues apart from landing, which could be rather fatal at 100mph...

Ditto, travelling is half the adventure.

 

[VoidWanderer]

So, two superpowers, but you can only choose one.

Flying - You can fly at about 100mph, but can't slow down. Meaning you won't be able to see very well, you'll probably hit something on the way to your destination and landing will be a bit of a pain.

Teleportation - You can teleport, though not instantly and you have to of been to the place you are teleporting to. Also there is a 0.5% chance you will teleport inside a wall.


Let me know if you want more of these.

This is a really silly choice.

Smashing into the ground at 100 mph is going to kill you, if not just shattering your bones.

Teleportation is the only logical option.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

A tougher choice would be between teleportation or telekinesis, they are the ultimate utilitarian superpowers.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

This is a really silly choice.

Smashing into the ground at 100 mph is going to kill you, if not just shattering your bones.

Teleportation is the only logical option.

That is until roughly the two hundredth time you do it, at which point the fact that your molecules are occupying the same space as those of a wall results in a nuclear explosion that kills both you and potentially thousands of innocent bystanders.

With the provided limitations, I'd honestly never use either superpower, but at least with flight I could try to land by abruptly flying up at the last second and then deactivating it. Teleportation is just a ticking time bomb.

 

[teebeeohh]

just out of curiosity, if i keep teleporting 5 meters left to right in the middle of a giant field where is the wall i will crash into?
and what does "not instantly" mean? are we talking fading way like in star trek or is it random? could i forget i wanted to teleport to china and just vanish in the middle of something?
and would i even flying at 100mph or wouldn't that kill me somehow?

 

[Da Orky Man]

Neither of them is much use, at least enough to be fun. The flying would result in instant death from acceleration, and even if you could survive the take-off, landing will most certainly kill you.
On the other hand, the teleportation could actually be useful, but only as a get-out-of-fuckup-free card. a 1/200 chance of instant death is way too high for anything useful.

I suppose you could stand a slight chance of landing if you only ever landed in a long stretch of water, but even then, your chances aren't good.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'll take teleportation. I don't think I'll use either, though. Seriously, no viable method of landing? What kind of choice is this?

 

[ellers07]

These super powers seem to be lacking in the area of "super." If I had to choose, I guess the teleportation option is less deadly. Can I just not have a power?

 

[lacktheknack]

I shall solve this with SCIENCE! So, assuming normal teleportation doesn't kill me, then since nowhere on earth is a vaccuum, it follows that I displace material from where I land (ie. the air). So landing inside a wall isn't necessarily fatal (to me) provided the wall is less than a couple of feet thick.

On the other hand, violently exploding a wall could cause a lot of collateral damage I'd rather not have on my conscience, and could cause me to die anyway (building collapse etc.) Also, if I landed in a much thicker wall/hill , it would probably be akin to being buried alive and I'd suffocate pretty quickly.

On the other hand, flying seems to be insta-death (unless you never stopped), so yeah teleportation it is.

Made the choice even easier. Thank you!

 

[redmoretrout]

It sounds like there is a pretty good chance either of these powers will get me killed. I'll take neither as I wouldn't be able to resist using them and would likely end up splattered against a tree or cut in half by a wall.